The Siege of Minden

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1255. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Minden. AR Acht Groschen Klippe. Siege issue. Dated 1634. • (rosette) •/MINDA/OBSESS[A]/• 1 • 6 • 3 • 4 • in four lines / • 8 •/GROS •/[•] CHEN •/[•] (rosette) • in four lines; coat-of-arms of Minden (crossed keys) stamp below. Stange 175; Mailliet 1. In an NGC slab graded VG 8.

The bishopric of Minden was besieged during the Thirty Years’ War by Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who was in league with the invading forces of Sweden as they swept in from the north. After the war, Minden was stripped of its ecclesiastical role and given to Brandenburg in the Peace of Westphalia.